These Days
by Skrumpfy Stallion
Summary: Joe Vegas never really thought life could get better, or worse if he were being honest with himself. Life had it's ups and it's downs, but Joe just had a in-grown talent at hiding how bad things really could be. The more he looked at it, the more he wished life could have been so much easier. He wished he could have gone back to the High School of Performing Arts...
1. Chapter 1

_**Chapter 1: The Days When It All Started**_

Jose Vegas had never been the kind of person to care what others thought of him. He had an air about him that just oozed cheesiness with a hint of arrogance. Some loved being around it, some others absolutely hated it and abhorred it. He hung around with a mix of people, some poor and some rich, some popular and some not popular. He never stopped to think of those kinds of things, then again, he didn't think of a lot of things.

As Nick said, he had zero limits on everything.

Girls, he had no limits with, as long as they looked good.

Parties, he had no limits on how crazy they got.

Money, he had no limits on how much he spent and what he spent it on.

It was mostly his fault, but then again, not just his. He lived in the South Bronx, a beautiful place to live if he did say so himself. Joe loved it, it was an intimate place, he knew everyone there and everyone knew him. The guys knew him, as did all the pretty girls that just adored him in the way that Joe loved. It was what he had always wanted, to feel like he meant something, as if he mattered. He knew he never really amounted to much, at least at first. His family had always been something akin to a civil war, Pepe Vegas II against Maria Josephine Vegas almost every weekend and eventually that just became too much too soon. That cute little mansion just on the edge of Hunts Point was only big enough for two, so Joe left. Catching a bus and then a train, it didn't take long for Jose to find his grandparents' place.

Joe always knew that Francesco and Tequila Vegas would let him in, they always had a soft spot for their only grandson. They would let him stay there for however long it took, as long as he did his fair share around the apartment and made sure he never had any parties. Obviously that second part was gonna be harder than he thought, partying harder than anyone else in New York was Joe's forte. However, drinking beer whilst out in the city was never a problem as long as he managed to never puke on anything at home. Again, that was something he might have well made his job in the future.

Jose Vegas: Professional Partier.

He didn't even know what to say when he realised he got accepted into the New York High School for Performing Arts. He never told his mother or father, not until they decided to call him first. That was in Senior Year, possibly the worst time to even call, even after three years of zero communication. His grandparents were absolutely delighted though, and Grandpa Vegas made it an objective that Joe received the equivalent of a reward for the hard work he'd been putting in to get into that damned school. The moment he'd opened up that letter and it said 'we're delighted to be able to say that Mister Jose Vegas has been accepted into the High School of the Performing Arts' he was bouncing all across the apartment, almost smashing his own grandmother through the plaster wall.

He might have dressed like some biker, leather jacket and ripped jeans and all yet he was still just a little kid. He'd never gotten such recognition, so perhaps he may have stretched his confidence in skill to arrogance. It may have been his fault, but entirely his fault?

Definitely not.

 _ **Freshman Year**_

"Man, just give it up!" Tyrone said, sitting next to Joe in the canteen. "She ain't looking at you the way you looking at her!"

If only Tyrone Jackson ever understood how Joe felt about any girl in PA. To some, after the stunt he pulled in Acting Class they would say it was pure teenage hormones. Perhaps it would be true, but only a few really knew how infatuated Joe got when it came to girls. Not to the extent of Jay Gatsby (who Miss Sherman seemed to absolutely abhor) but whenever he saw someone he was like some sort of lovesick puppy.

"Nah! She's crazy about me, can't you all see that?" Joe replied, still in disbelief

"The only thing she's crazy about is getting out of this place, Vegas." Mabel spoke, before shoving most of a single vanilla pudding into her maw. "Give it up, Joe. There's plenty of more fish in the sea."

If only Mabel could see how right she was. There were so many people in New York PA that Joe could have fixated on, but it just had to be Carmen Diaz. It didn't seem to be going his way, and while everyone seemed to be getting on those of the opposite gender as soon as they could, Joe was doing anything but that. Whilst getting involved in as much acting as he could do, Joe also found himself getting involved with various things that his father would have whipped him with a belt for.

Then again, Joe and Pepe hadn't spoke in months, same with his own mother. They didn't seem to care, they never spoke to him but Joe assumed that it wouldn't last long before they called him back home. He'd only be staying with Grandpa Francesco and Grandma Tequila at least for a little while before his parents begged him to come back.

It wasn't the first time that he'd ran out, but he seriously wondered if he should go back again.

"Look, maybe you're right but that doesn't mean I can't try right?"

"If you keep on shaking your ass like a damn peacock, it won't be happening anytime soon." Tyrone replied, slurping from a cup of coffee before leaning back into his chair.

"What? Like the same way you keep strutting in front of Miss Bell and Keely, Jackson?" Joe shot back.

"Her name is Iris, Iris Kelly. Not Keely." Tyrone grumbled. "Course it'd be you to get confused. You can't tell your Puerto Rican ass from your Spanish elbow! And I don't strut! I bust moves to hip-hop!"

The weird thing was that despite how annoying Joe could be, he was one of the people who never refused to follow his beliefs. If something he saw was wrong, he'd get involved and try to stop it. He seemed to be a spitfire, not unlike Carmen Diaz who he happened to desire so much. Why she had to be so beautiful, so confident in her own abilities, oh how Joe hated to be so entranced by someone as perfect as her. Everyone would tell him to give up, even the closer friends like Nicholas Piazza and Tyrone Jackson may as well have given up on trying to convince their Hispanic friend on letting go of Carmen Diaz. Yet, they knew someone like Joe could be so stupendously stubborn about such things even despite the little time that they knew each other so far.

It was at that moment when Nicholas and Serena walked into the cafeteria, with Serena pestering and hanging onto every word that he was saying to her. It was somewhat cute, yet also somewhat weird. Joe knew that every boy had some kind of attraction to a girl, but Nick was definitely different. Damn it, if someone like Serena obsessed over Joe the way she did Nick, Joe doubted his own capabilities if he could keep himself from making out with her.

It was a shame, but what was happening was happening. Joe had a bet going with Goody that at some point in the next four years that Nick and Serena would get together. There were two hundred dollars riding on that bet, but Joe never really had much luck when it came to bets. It was very rare that he was getting money and much more commonplace that he was giving it away, and large amounts too.

"You think Piazza busts any moves?" Joe asked, fiddling with the golden crucifix wrapped around his neck. "Katz is all over him, you think he's gonna want any of that?"

"Piazza ain't bustin' nuts, let alone any moves if he ain't seeing what's in front of him." Mabel replied, now scoffing down liquorish. "The guy is insane from what I heard. Always so serious about acting."

 _Ain't that the damn truth, the guy is a living statue. Maybe he don't know the meaning of fun yet, or he's been… oh jeez…_

"Uh..." Joe groaned, gaining odd looks from Tyrone and Mabel. "You guys don't think Piazza has been… snipped?"

As soon as Joe spoke, he immediately noticed that Tyrone was now choking on his ham and cheese sandwich with his eyes wide, soon joined by Mabel as she began to use the Heimlich maneuver to wretch the bread and meat from Tyrone's throat. As soon as the deed was done, Joe received the coldest glare from the disco dancer that he would ever receive in the next four years.

"You ever mention that to me, Jose Vegas, and I will personally make sure you get snipped." Tyrone growled, cracking open a Pepsi. "You ain't gonna get anywhere with Carmen when you ain't got nothing to use."

 _Okay, new rule, never mention castration to Tyrone again. Also a new rule, if ever in pain, find Mabel for Heimlich…_

 **-X-X-X-**

The more that time went by, the more that Joe seemed to mellow out. At the start of the year, he seemed to be constantly high on caffeine whilst now he seemed to have calmed down and settled into the school. He had quite the following, mostly girls but a lot of the boys that wanted one of them usually found themselves becoming friends and acquaintances with Joe not too long after. After pulling the 'Can't Keep It Down' stunt in the third acting class of the year, he had about as much popularity as Tyrone did. The people loved Joe Vegas.

For the most part anyway. Schlomo Metzenbaum seemed to tolerate him just about, and Lambchops had threatened to bash Joe's brains into mush when he tried to flirt with her. However, since it was only freshman year Joe had a feeling a lot more would change over the next four years. If he could have seen into the future, he probably would have choked on a taco but it seemed that what had come to pass was what Joe was completely fine with.

He found someone who managed to love him, or at least when he wasn't high on caffeine or something else, able to tolerate him.

He just never actually imagined it to be who he thought it would be.

 **-X-X-X-**

"Carmen! Carmen! Wait up!"

It had been a joke, nothing else really but clearly Carmen had not taken it in such a way. Okay, maybe Joe had said a few things that could have been construed as slightly offensive, but he didn't control himself. He was incapable of doing so, although many of the teachers said that was completely untrue. He ran through the corridor, trying to get through the masses of students that blocked him, stopped him from getting to the girl that he was just so infatuated with.

Why did he love her so? Why did someone like Carmen Diaz have to be so attractive, so amazing, so unique, so fantastically spectacular and special that she had enchanted Joe in such a way. It had always been true, Joe being a sucker for a pretty girl or five but Carmen Diaz was something different. She was someone Joe could see himself spending time with, seeing her made his heart skip a beat or fifty.

"Look, Joe." Carmen said, turning to the young boy, dragging him into a quiet classroom before slamming the door shut and locking it. "Get the message, I don't like you. You are like so many other guys it's almost infuriating! Actually, no, you just try to be like those guys. You're just a little boy, trying to be a man, pretending to be a big boy so you can get the pretty girl. Newsflash! It ain't happening!"

"Look, please, just let me explain..."

"Joe! Please, for once, shut up! Look, I don't want to be in a relationship with anyone at the moment, _comprende?"_ Carmen asked. "Jose, look, I like you. You are a good guy, even though you have 'problems' controlling yourself down there..."

Jose muttered something unintelligible for a moment. "Joe, what did you say?" She inquired.

"I..." Joe started. "I said nobody else calls me Jose like you do. I kinda like it."

"Awh, how sweet. Little Joe really does have a heart under all those hormones."

Joe sighed as Carmen began to sway slightly, with a small smirk on her face. Calling him 'Little Joe' seemed to have some kind of humbling effect on him. Even more noticeable was when his cheeks began to redden a little bit. Carmen even giggled slightly when the blood began to rush to his cheeks, but then again, Joe was more thankful for the fact that the blood wasn't rushing to another certain part of his body.

"You think… we could catch a film sometime? I know a place we can get in for free?" Joe asked, suddenly.

"You know what, I think I'd like that a lot." Carmen replied. "Maybe next week? If you're man enough, we can go and see _The Shining?"_

"Pfff, am I man enough?" Joe shrugged. "Course I am."

 **-X-X-X-**

"So, you actually managed to get with Carmen Diaz? No freakin' way." Nick said as he and Joe left their class.

"Well, if you mean 'get with' you mean 'felt up those melones like their was no tomorrow' then..."

"Nope. I don't believe it." Nick reaffirmed. "There is absolutely zero way of you gettin' with Carmen Freaking Diaz."

"Well, I was gonna say that I didn't but if you wanna tell the media that then that is cool with me, hermano."

Nick looked at Joe in the same way, straight faced, with almost the same grimace he carried himself with throughout the halls of the New York High School of Performing Arts. He was analysing the young Puerto Rican, with those bright blue eyes of his. The taller actor moved forward, with Joe following close behind him. The young actors had the eyes of a couple of the dancing girls, and although Joe never particularly minded, he could tell that the young Serena Katz was not too happy with the girls ogling 'her man'.

"Enough about me, hombre." Joe started. "What about you? You found yourself a pretty lady yet?"

"Jeez, I ain't told you enough already? I'm not into that, at least not at the moment." Nick replied, placing his copy of _An Actor Prepares_ into his bag.

"So, even if Little Miss Perfect or as you know her, Miss Serena Katz were to jump on your bones right now..." Joe began.

"No, even if she were offering herself, which she wouldn't..."

"Do you know that?"

"Yes, look..."

Before Nick could continue, Joe dragged him off to the next lesson which turned out to be Math. Even despite them being polar opposites, like most people, the two had become unlikely friends.

 **-X-X-X-**

 _ **Yoyoyo, my dudes…**_

 _ **So, while I continue to write up for Riverdale and some possible one shots, I may start writing little tidbits for Fame: The Musical. It's taken up most of my time, with it being my school musical and since I auditioned and gained the role of the legendary Joe Vegas, I thought it would be best if I wrote from his perspective, especially since there's very little writing from his POV.**_

 _ **Hopefully I will write more for this in the coming days!**_

 _ **-Super Stallion**_


	2. Chapter 2

**Chapter 2: The Days Where It All Went By So Fast**

How could such a bright future ever turn so dark? It was as if nothing could have ever gone wrong. Joe Vegas, as egotistic as he seemed to be around almost everyone, was rather quiet when it came to big issues. When Miss Sherman announced that at the end of their Senior Year, the school would be shutting down, it was a big hit to everyone. Mister Myers and Mister Sheinkopf may never have shown how bad it hurt, but Joe could tell. They would lose the jobs they loved, the jobs they had done for years.

It was worse when it came to Dance. Whilst Joe was working for his Major in Acting, it didn't mean he didn't spend time with Miss Bell for extra-curricular lessons in Dance. It was something he'd been wanting to do for a while, but it took a while for Joe to gain the confidence that it seemed he had.

Standing in the Dance Studio, was both Joe and Miss Bell. In grey sweats was Joe, standing straight next to the colourful teacher who seemed to not have a grasp on the moves they were working on.

"Miss Bell, are you sure you're alright?" Joe asked. "You aren't as on point today as you are."

"Mister Vegas, I have zero doubt of my self-assuredness that I am perfectly able to teach you today, are you okay?" The teacher replied, a small yet reluctant smile on her face.

Joe sighed as he looked at the usually lively Dance teacher. Her eyes were visible, and Joe could see the bloodshot and the bags just under all the make-up and eye drops. Joe had seen a sight similar to it before, and he had seen worse in the past too. When his Mom and Dad almost lost the house, when his late elder brother died of a drug overdose.

" _Senorita,_ have you been crying?"

The Dance Teacher looked at her student, her reluctant smile falling into a grimace and frown, her eyes wetting again as the tears began to fall again. Joe quickly took her into her seat before he took a seat not too far from her either. She kept as quiet as she could, but ever since the news broke out that the school would be getting closed a lot of the other teachers had been struggling to keep their cool.

"Joe, sit with me for a bit." Miss Bell commanded, with Joe following. "Tell me, what're you thinking of?"

"Everything and nothing." Joe replied quickly. "I've just been told that the gateway to my life goal so far is possibly getting shut down in the future for everyone else? I'm pretty good, not gonna lie."

"If only we could all care as much as you did, Mister Vegas." Miss Bell commented, a small smile visible.

"If anything, I care too much Miss Bell." Joe spoke. "At least when it comes to the _Senoritas_ anyway. That's what I have been told anyway."

"Oh, Joe. One day you'll meet a girl that will make you happy and convince you to stay in one place. I always thought I would find that guy to make me his and look at me now! Alone in the New York desert of skyscrapers."

"Oh, Miss Bell. One day you'll meet a guy that'll make you happy and convince you too!"

Miss Bell seemed to stop her snivelling and crying, and began to smile with real happiness at Joe. She used the floating sleeves on her dress to wipe away the tears and the tracks down her face.

"Seems what my students say about you is true, a comedian and a charmer. Oh what I would give for a man like you…."

"Careful, Miss." Joe said with a smirk. "Give me a few more years, and maybe I'll see what you're up to."

 _ **X-X-X**_

"Hey, did you hear? Carmen's leaving the school!"

"Hey, have you heard? Miss Bell and Miss Sherman were arguing in the hall! I think Tyrone might leave the school!"

"Did you hear Katz and Piazza? How can a guy like Nick be gay?!"

Sophomore Year passed like a dream, although quite a few from all specialities began to drop out throughout when other offers came through. Some just couldn't deal with the pressure and everyone expected Joe to drop out sooner rather than later.

It was just a shame that they would ever think somebody as hard-working and stubborn as Joe Vegas would ever drop out of his favourite subject since birth would be sorely mistaken.

He'd be showing them all.

It was a Friday, and considering that most of Joe's lessons were either Acting or Dance, he had very little to do in his free periods. He would have hung around Nick or Tyrone, but both were gone. Tyrone was in Dance with Miss Bell, Iris, Carmen and Mabel so that was an understandable excuse. What was not an understandable excuse for not socialising with his friends was the fact that his friends were not friends at all at the time. Serena had accused Nick of being gay, and then shaming him for not wanting to have sex. Nick had accused Serena of being an immature adolescent that was obsessed with sex for no apparent reason. It was not that he didn't find her attractive, Joe had been there when Nick had admitted that he liked Serena. However, it was just admiration, of how great she was as a person as well as a friend.

 _God forbid that the both of them act like actual adults for once and just talk like normal people. Wow, the guy doesn't like you but don't be so petty about it. Wow, a girl has a crush on a famous guy on tv, just get over yourself and say that a relationship isn't on the cards at the moment. Is it actually that hard?_

Joe sighed as he sat in the library, working on a book report for the _The Great Gatsby,_ and somehow he saw to many similarities between the titular character as well as himself. Aside from the fact that Gatsby was obsessed with one lady whilst Joe was obsessed with more than ten it kinda showed that the two were quite similar. At least, that was what Joe could see anyway. The more he read the book, the more he could see the similarities ending. He sighed, and continued writing down notes which soon ventured into ineligible doodling over the rest of the page.

It seemed like everything from Freshman Year was just going to get worse, and they were only in the second year of their education. Why had everything gone so deep down the rabbit hole so quickly? Even since they started, Sherman was kicking their ass from day one. She was giving them constant assignments, so many to the point where it was almost impossible to avoid detention with Sherman at the end of the week. That meant that Joe's plans had always been thrown into a garbage fire because of that damned teacher, and she had the apparent god-given gall to tell Tyrone that he couldn't perform in the Junior Festival, insulting him to the point where she almost replaced him with Joe or Schlomo! Schlomo didn't even dance, and Joe was a Salsa / Flamenco kind of guy, and he already had a part in the Festival, dancing at the end. How in the hell was he meant to do Ballet as well? He couldn't do Ballet, and that was why he continually protested to Sherman at the end of every lesson with her. It annoyed her to no end, and that is exactly what Joe was going to do until Sherman broke.

"You know, we can all tell that you're going crazy."

"Ah, Chops." Joe spoke. "I see that you caused Serena to almost break Nick over her _genial_ legs. How was that?"

"I take zero pleasure in telling such a harsh truth." Lambchops replied, in obvious mocking tone. "Anyway, how's the report coming along?

Joe sighed, picking up the piece of paper with his writing as well as his doodling on it, showing it to the female drummer. He felt like an absolute dummy handing it to her, knowing that while his academic and performing skill were both top-notch, his head was not in the right place at all. "You see, I think Gatsby is an analogy for that squiggly line at the bottom their, and Daisy is a shallow _senorita_ who only wants that square in the top corner." Joe grimaced. " _Madre de dios…_ this is bad. This is meant to be in for tomorrow!"

"You need help, huh?" Lambchops asked. "Well, it would so happen that mine has been graded already and it's a B… so…."

"What do you want, Lady Lamb? Me to be your personal slave for the week? Buy you food? A date?"

 _It was for the first time in my life that I had literally placed my foot in my mouth, because that is exactly what she wanted. She asked me on a date, and again, for the first time in my life it was a girl asking myself out for dinner! Well, I did buy the food and I did indeed become a personal slave, but instead of it being for just a few weeks like most relationships in that school, it lasted a lot longer than the expected week. Instead, it seemed that myself and Lambchops got on like nobody else._

 _ **X-X-X**_

Joe sat at the top of the apartment complex, legs dangling off the roof with the wind carrying them from left to right. It was like they had a mind of their own, and if Joe was to be honest with himself his mind had been drifting like the weeks that had gone by. The more time he spent with Lambchops, the more he began to think his womanising ways were what was dragging him down. Okay, perhaps they weren't completely what was dragging him down and it was more his own lax attitude to his own learning but like some of the other teachers had said:

"Joe has potential, he just hasn't managed to find that source to harness that potential and channel it into his academics." That was Mister Myers. He followed that with a "He is also extremely honest, which is good, but there are times when he's a little explicit..."

Then Miss Bell was much more kind. "Well, Jose is such a kind and talented student in my class and in his out of school lessons. He always give it one hundred and ten percent, and he's just got such a natural aptitude for dancing that I think he might become a talented choreographer in the near future."

Then Miss Sherman just had to burst his bubble. "Joe never pays attention in class, at all. Now, all of my colleagues profess that Mister Vegas has potential. Well, in my class he shows zero. Zilch! He can't keep quiet, talks to his classmates and can never, ever keep it down!"

He looked down, down at the busy bustling street down below. He didn't know what to think, everything had gone from bad to worse. Freshman and Sophomore Year had been alright, but now it seemed like it was getting worse. Carmen had left for LA, Schlomo was down in the dumps and it seemed Tyrone and Iris weren't exactly the perfect couple like it seemed. Sherman had really taken it all out on the poor guy, and he wasn't the only one. It seemed she had it out for Joe and Goody too, and the three had always been the victim of her famed lectures on taking everything seriously. Joe never really listened, he feigned it but the thing that Sherman didn't know was that Joe could listen, it was just that he multi-tasked as well when he was listening. People were always too stupid to realise that Joe looked stupid and acted stupid, but he never really was stupid.

"Joe, baby, what's wrong?"

Joe turned to see Lambchops behind him, her Rolling Stone shirt blowing slightly in the wind. Why did she have to mean so much to him in such a small amount of time? He never even looked at Lambchops that way until Junior Year, and before then she seemed to look just as good as she did now. Joe had noted that she was growing a lot quicker than a lot of the other girls in the High School of PA, maybe bar Carmen and a few of her _amigas._ Yet, he never would have noticed unless Joe spent that little afternoon in the library all on his lonesome.

"Nothing much, doll." Joe replied, sighing. "Just… thinking about a few things. It's… it's just a little situation at home is all."

Lambchops waltzed over to her young boyfriend and sat next to him. "What have we talked about, baby? If you feel like you need to tell me something, we can talk about it, okay? That's what we said, isn't it?"

"Yeah, yeah I know. It's just…. God damnit I thought this would be easy." Joe managed to say, before sniffling. "My grandparents just told me… they told me Mom and Dad were on the way to see the divorce lawyers together when their car got hit by a truck… oh god… they didn't make it..."

Joe had never seen Lambchops' eyes widen so quickly, and so swiftly dragged him away from the ledge and held him tight in her arms. She could feel Joe's arms wrap around her back, tighter than anything she had ever felt before. She could feel him shuffling awkwardly in her grasp, and she could hear his sniffles and small sounds of crying as he muffled them by keeping his face in her shoulder. He was trying to speak, but Lambchops could barely hear his words. They were interred with small amounts of sniffles, but he soon managed to pull himself out of her grasp and wipe his eyes. He continued the sniffling, but managed to retain some semblance of normality despite what had happened.

"Lamb… I don't have anyone else any more." Joe muttered. "My grandparents… they're all gone. I don't have anyone else, and it'll be a while before the inheritance falls through. Do you… do you mind if I stay here for a little bit?"

Joe could feel Lamb's hands on his face, and he closed his eyes as he felt her soft wet lips against his own. "My name is Grace, call me Grace, Joe."

 _ **X-X-X**_

It didn't take long for Joe to fall asleep in the spare room in the Lamb Residence. Grace's parents were much more accepting than Joe thought it they would be. They said he could stay as long as he needed to, but Joe knew as soon as the assets and the inheritance came through he would be leaving. He couldn't allow Grace's parents to let him stay there forever, and what Joe had been through already was something he could get through on his own.

"Enjoying yourself, sleepyhead?" A voice said to the left of him.

Joe turned to the voice, to see a fully clothed Lamb lying next to him. Her index finger was drawing little circles over his naked chest. "I woke up with a beautiful brunette lying next to me, so I am pretty happy right now, _senorita."_

It definitely felt like everything was going to be alright...


	3. Chapter 3

**Chapter 3: The Days That We All Remember The Most, The Days That We're All Too Real**

It had been a long two years, a very long and arduous two years at the LaGuardia High School of Performing Arts, but to Joe and his group of friends, it had all been worth the price of admission.

They all made new friends.

Fights had been won and lost.

Tears had been shed, laughs had been had, walls had been punched. The school was a hotbed for teenage behaviour which is far from what adults would be like, but everyone knew they would grow out of it. For example, Nick had finally loosened up and began dating with the little hottie that was Serena Katz. Tyrone had began to work for himself and not use anyone else when it came down to the cutting floor. He'd told everyone that as soon as he had graduated, he'd be going to Lincoln, in order to try and get a degree and fix his dyslexia. Joe had kept his head down, that is. When it came down to it, he began to knuckle down and listen. He'd lost pretty much everything and he had nothing else to lose. Unlike others, who would throw themselves into a drunken and drug-addled stupor, he had a few people to keep himself afloat and functioning like a normal person.

And Joe had finally kept it down.

Grace Lamb, known to most as the hostile drummer 'Lambchops'.

 _In my own defence, as well as the noble Lady Lamb, it was not just her but her family too. They let me stay with them until I got back on my feet. In fact, they pretty much adopted me. I didn't want them too, but they just wouldn't allow me to live on my own._

 _Believe me, I am by no means a little wasteaway, but I wanted to live away. I wanted to be what I had to be. I had to be what my Mom and Dad would have wanted me to be._

 **X-X-X**

It was a Monday, the second to last Monday before the class of '84 would be the last class of what had been deemed the Fame School. Budget cuts had been announced, and most of the teachers had found new places where they would teach. The only ones that were left were Miss Bell, Miss Sherman as well as Mister Sheinkopf and Myers. Everyone thought they'd just stayed because of the requirements but it was because they wanted to.

It might not have seemed it, but they cared about the students, even ones like Joe and Tyrone.

Joe was walking to school on his lonesome, Grace had finally given in and realised that she had a cold and couldn't go to the school for once. Joe had began to wear the clothes that he had bought with the inheritance money that he had waited months to receive. The savings that his mother and father had saved were by far too much, especially for someone like Joe, people just thought he'd waste it all away. No, he'd been lax on spending like a millionaire or billionaire, but he'd been saving and adding as much as he possibly could do when working as a server at the nearby cafe. He could by a car at this point, buy a house but he couldn't, Grace's parents just wouldn't allow him too. They treated him as if he were their own child, like they were his own family. The one thing he'd yearned for, the one thing he wanted for years.

The feeling of safety and security, the feeling of having a family.

He walked into the nearby shop, an express store so he could buy himself something to eat later in the day if he got a hankering. The cold chill of a refrigerator hit him as he pulled out two cans of Coke and a BLT sandwich. Throwing them on the counter and then having a quick chat with the owner of the store before throwing down five dollars and walking out, allowing the owner to keep the change. It was when Joe had finished readjusting everything in his bag as well as the food is when he saw the pair of star-crossed lovers that were Nick and Serena walking towards LaGuardia, but they had the most depressed grimace that Joe had ever seen. He quickly walked over to them, to try and cheer them up as much as he possibly could until they got to the school. Joe thought it was just a case of school almost being over in the next week. The two had extremely enjoyed their time at LaGuardia, and now it was all coming to it's end. All they had to do was get through one final performance to get their grade, the prom where everyone would be absolutely drunk off their asses and enjoying the night like it would be the last night in existence.

At least, that was Joe was going to do. If he managed to do so, he'd be more surprised if he needed an entirely new digestive system, let alone a new liver.

 **X-X-X**

Prom had arrived.

Of course, it involved all of the awkwardness that a prom for teenagers would have had. Some of the attendees had no partners, and we're just dancing around with their friends. Some of them were just sitting at the sides, conversing with others who were just like them. Joe had tried to get them all involved, but sometimes people just couldn't be helped. They were killjoys, and Joe didn't particularly fancy wasting his time with the killjoys who would have spoilt his night if the prom night were just any other night. No, he would ignore them and focus on his friends. His friends that he would keep in contact with. The Dancers were the ones that had inhabited the dancefloor, running it like it was always their thing and to be fair to them, it was. Joe had been on the floor once or twice in the night.

That was until Schlomo had tapped him on the shoulder and told him to talk to him somewhere quiet. Joe walked through all the dancing, singing and acting stars and wannabes to follow the music maestro into the boys lavatories. He closed the door and looked at Schlomo, who seemed to be a little more haggled and tired than anyone else. Joe could have swore that he hadn't seen Schlomo drink a drop of alcohol in his life, although he didn't know what he did in his free time. His hair looked unkempt and his eyes seemed a little more bloodshot than normal, with the accompanying bags under his eyes amplifying the effect that something bad had happened and now Schlomo was about to pour it all on Joe.

"You okay, buddy?" Joe said, getting closer to the violinist. "Schlo? Man, you don't look too good. Need me to get you some water?"

That was when Schlomo began to cry, tears running down his eyes. It was bad, and Schlomo suddenly gripped onto his friend. "C-C-Carmen…. Joe, Carmen's…. Carmen's dead..."

It was like a kick to the gut, a punch to the face that would cause an instant knockout. It was like he had the wind beaten out of him. His friend, his crush, Schlomo's girlfriend, had died. She had meant to become the famous one, the one that had succeeded the most while everyone wished to emulate their success off. She'd gone, she was dead and that was it. Her life was over, and her death had hit them both. "I'm so sorry, Schlomo..." Joe could just about feel himself about to cry too.

The two boys cried together, in solidarity with the other. The two may not have conversed too much, but as soon as Schlomo got with Carmen, the two were a lot closer than they thought they were, with Joe and Carmen being extremely close friends. Joe's affection for her had died out, he knew when to quit and when she started dating Schlomo, then he knew he never stood a chance. The two were good for each other, and Joe had no right to break what they had apart. He left well enough alone, and staying as a friend was something he wanted more than to risk losing two friends just over some kind of lustful obsession. He knew better than that. At least he knew better now, and he didn't need to worry. He had Lambchops.

"I haven't told anyone yet." Schlomo said. "I haven't had the best time to do so."

As the DeeJay played the last song of the night, Joe looked at Schlomo. "I think… I think there is no better time like the present."

Schlomo looked like he was about to hesitate, but something in his eyes stopped and he soon looked a lot more sure about himself. His tears stopped falling and the young violinist wiped away the tears from his eyes. "Yeah, yeah, I agree. Will you… come on the deck with me?"

Joe smiled. "Course, I will. She was my friend too, you won't be alone when you go up there."

The two boys hugged once more, before leaving the rest rooms and moving through the main room. Joe yelled across the room for the dancing to stop, and soon the DJ stopped the music. Schlomo stepped up first and took the microphone first, and soon Joe followed him. Joe smiled and nodded, giving Schlomo a small pat on the back. Schlomo gave a small smile, and spoke.

 **X-X-X**

 _Twenty Years Later…_

An Older Joe stood, looking over the city of New York from the small amount of country just away from the main city. He'd reached his goals, gotten married, had the cute little monsters that we're his children. He'd kept in contact with his friends, those that he could do anyway. Schlomo was the violin virtuoso that everyone knew he would be, performing with his own orchestra all around the globe. Nick had become an acclaimed stage actor with Serena as his agent and part-time teacher at the newly renovated LaGuardia High School of Performing Arts. He knew Tyrone and Iris eventually split apart, and as sad as it was, he knew sometimes the unavoidable had to happen.

The Devil always has his due.

Joe sighed. He had become famous, he was rich but it wasn't enough. Not enough in the sense that he wasn't rich or happy enough, but in the sense that he wanted what he used to have. That feeling of always having a friend nearby, the feeling of being young once more. He wanted to relive those memories of LaGuardia High School, the days where he would enter the drama rooms and take part in class alongside Nick, Serena and Carmen. The afternoons which he'd spend alongside Tyrone before taking the dance lessons alongside Miss Bell, who had gotten married to a guy who was perfect for her. Joe went to the wedding, and he had to say that he felt happy for the dance teacher. It was nice even reconnecting to his teachers, in their older age. Sheinkopf had softened and Myers remained as eccentric as ever. It was like they had never changed.

He turned around, taking the bouquet of red roses out from the seat of his Ford Mustang Shelby GT500. It was his first car, one of many but it was his workhorse. He smiled, closing the door before he approached the small little crucifix just by the edge of the cliff. Joe gave a small smile as he laid he flowers at the base of the stone crucifix. He was at the resting place of Carmen Diaz, it was her birthday. The evidence of her former friends was there, roses and tulips and violets, but red roses were her favourite. Two people knew that and there was already a bouquet of flowers there.

Schlomo had already been there.

Joe laid down the bouquet. "Twenty years, Carmen. I miss you, I always have and always will. You were my closest friend, and I think somewhere deep down, I never really stopped loving you. Yet, I think I was happy you found Schlomo. He would have been good for you. I don't know what to say but I think you'd be happy for me too. Grace and me, we got married, Carmen. We've got five kids, you'd have loved them, I think you would have anyway. Alejandro, Lydia and Isabella and Sebastian. Grace just had our youngest girl, we named her after you, Carmen. I told them about you, about their Auntie Carmen. It never gets any easier, coming here every year and laying my heart to bear, but, I really do miss you..."

Joe finally began to let the tears fall from his eyes once more. He reached from behind the collar of his leather jacket, undoing the small latch on the golden necklace that he wore around his neck and the bracelet on his left wrist. He looked on the little golden pendant and the small latched oval, which Joe opened to reveal a picture of himself and Carmen after their late night visit to the local burger joint after watching _The Shining._ He placed the necklace and bracelet on the gravestone. Joe was fully crying now, but he managed to speak whilst sniffling.

"But… I have to let you go now..." Joe sputtered. "I have to let you go. And I know it hurts, but I can't keep saying this every year. Carmen, I'm so sorry… I love you. Goodbye, Carmen."


End file.
